Mystery Veg & Photo Challenges

I’ve mentioned previously that we have deliveries of organic veggie boxes from Abel & Cole. The first was actually part of Pete’s Christmas present as I knew it was something he’d fancied trying for a while. They are very well organised but because of this you do always know what you will be receiving in each box. Also because of this you can opt to never receive particular items or skip an item for a box.  This week I’d chosen to skip yellow peppers as we’d already got some. This meant that there was going to be one item in the box I wasn’t expecting. Well, when I first looked I didn’t even recognise the blooming thing and so I emailed this piccie to Pete at work.

Mystery solved, it is Salsify. Now I look again I do recall seeing it used on Masterchef  by the great Monica to test one batch of professional chefs. Thankfully that meant that we remembered that once peeled the white flesh darkens very quickly if not placed into a bowl of slightly acidic water. We’d also added Wild Pheasant Breast to our order for this week and so you can guess what our main course consisted of last night. I can also report that my crumble was truly delicious. It went in the oven for approx 30 mins and was then served with a little dollop of farmhouse vanilla ice-cream – yummy. I also snuck in an order yesterday for this little beauty to store all my camera paraphernalia in. I didn’t order till yesterday afternoon and the Royal Mail man got me out of bed this morning to sign for it, how efficient is that?. All my stuff is now safe and sound, tucked way and protected so I am a happy bunny.

At home over Christmas Anthony took the plunge and purchased himself a DSLR. He’s lusted after one for a while and always has a play with my Canon when he’s home. After checking out the prices on line he treated himself to the Canon 550D from Jessops. Similar to mine but the next level up it really is a smashing camera. Now he’s home I thought I’d set him the occasional challenge to keep him on his toes.

The first challenge was to create a multiple exposure shot like this one of mine which I’d done for Pete on his birthday – more a Photoshop challenge than photography really but I knew Ant would enjoy it. I know that at least one shot of mine is out of focus but this really was a quick and dirty first attempt:

Ant rose to the challenge and although his creative process differed to mine (he used masks – note to self, I must get into these) he created a wonderful shot:

The latest challenge issued to him was to ‘make like M&S, this isn’t just any food’. I always seem to rush these things and consequently when I look back I spot things I perhaps should have done differently. In this shot, for example, the fruit on the saucer needs to be off centre slightly – too late now though, was eaten up last night lol

It will be interesting to see how he tackles this one, almost too easy really he may have too much choice and struggle to focus, we’ll see.

Thanks for dropping by.

  Wendy x